Rabbi Yissocher Frand is an American

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

and author. He is a senior lecturer at

Yeshivas Ner Yisroel Ner Israel Rabbinical College (ישיבת נר ישראל), also known as NIRC and Ner Yisroel, is a Haredi yeshiva (Jewish educational institution) in Pikesville (Baltimore County), Maryland. It was founded in 1933 by Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ru ...

Baltimore, MD Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Raised in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, he attended Ner Yisrael as a student and progressed to become a '' maggid shiur'' (lecturer). He is well known within the Orthodox Jewish community as a skilled orator, and has given thousands of invited lectures over the past decades. Rabbi Frand is best known for his popular parsha ''

shiurim Shiur (, , lit. ''amount'', pl. shiurim ) is a lecture on any Torah topic, such as Gemara, Mishnah, Halakha (Jewish law), Tanakh (Bible), etc. History The Hebrew term שיעור ("designated amount") came to refer to a portion of Ju ...

'' (lectures). His weekly lectures, started in the late 1980s, are hosted live at the Agudath Yisrael synagogue in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, and are broadcast all over the world by the Torah Conferencing Network in synagogues or Jewish community centers in over 70 cities in North America, Europe, Israel, South Africa, and Australia. The wide distribution of his lectures make them one of the best-attended Jewish lectures in the world. Building on points from the weekly Torah reading, his lectures generally follow a particular style. He typically addresses a matter of ''

halakha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

''/Jewish law for the bulk of his lecture, while reserving the closing portion for a

midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...

ic/homiletic talk which evinces an ethical or religious character. The Yad Yechiel Institute was founded to distribute audio recordings of Rabbi Frand's lectures, and they are sold over the Internet and in Jewish bookstores everywhere. Project Genesis publishes the midrashic portions of his weekly talks online, and the distribution of these transcriptions via email have added to his popularity. Revised versions of these shiurim have been collected and republished in book form. Rabbi Frand also gives a popular yearly lecture before

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day's ...

known as his annual "Teshuva Drasha." He is a board member and frequent speaker on behalf of the

Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation The Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation (established in 1989) is a non-profit Orthodox Jewish organization based in Monsey, New York, United States. The foundation is dedicated to spreading the teachings of Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan, known as the ''C ...

, an organization dedicated to educating the Jewish public on the laws of ''

lashon hara ''Lashon hara'' (or ''loshon horo'', or ''loshon hora'') ( he, לשון הרע; "evil tongue") is the halakhic term for speech about a person or persons that is negative or harmful to them, even though it is true. It is speech that damages the p ...

'' (harmful speech). Rabbi Frand has also been a featured speaker multiple times at the

Siyum HaShas Siyum HaShas ( he, סיום הש"ס, lit. "completion of the Six Orders f the Talmud) is a celebration of the completion of the Daf Yomi (daily Talmud folio) program, a roughly seven-and-a-half-year cycle of learning the Oral Torah and its comme ...

, held once every seven and a half years, the past few having taken place before sold-out crowds at major sporting venues in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

.Shani Ratzker, "Remembering the Siyum Hashas," ''The Jewish Press'' (March 16, 2005)
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Bibliography

* Rabbi Yissocher Frand in print: Contemporary and classic issues through the prism of Torah,

Artscroll ArtScroll is an imprint of translations, books and commentaries from an Orthodox Jewish perspective published by Mesorah Publications, Ltd., a publishing company based in Rahway, New Jersey. Rabbi Nosson Scherman is the general editor. ArtScroll' ...

, September 1995. * Listen to Your Messages: And Other Observations on Contemporary Jewish Life,

, August 1999. * An Offer You can't Refuse: and other essays on the art of living,

, January 2004. * Rabbi Frand on the Parashah: Insights, stories and observations ... on the weekly Torah reading,

, 2001. * Oholei Yissocher (Printed in Hebrew): Insights on Tractates Moed Katan and Temurah, Self-Published, 1986 * Rabbi Frand On the Parashah volume 2: More insights, stories and observations by Rabbi Yissocher Frand on the weekly Torah reading

, 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frand, Yissocher American Haredi rabbis Living people Yeshivas Ner Yisroel Religious leaders from Washington (state) Rabbis from Baltimore Religious leaders from Baltimore Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American Jews

Bibliography

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